its been a few weeks since i posted about ditching the debt settlement company and working with my OC's myself and im definately making some good headway in my quest to get my OCs paid. And thanks to everyone who helped me make up my mind to stop wasting my money on the debt settlement company, best move i ever made!! Most OC's are working with me and some are being quite overly nice about it! But i have one that is really killing me. they are horrible to talk to and when i ask to speak to a manager they say there are none. Have you ever heard of this? I say you dont have a manager and they say no. what the heck! I've called four times and they wont accept anything less than my full amount of past due fees and payments (about $400) and wont accept the fact that i can only make smaller payments to them to get it caught up. I just dont get it. they send me letters saying to call in to make payment arrangements or they are suing and so I call and they give me the hardest time of all my 7 creditors about making payments. Anyone else experience this?
From their perspective, for $400, it probably doesn't pay for them to sue, regardless of what they threaten. It only pays for them to pressure you, and it pays the most to pressure you the most. Not having a manager is, of course, BS. In effect, they may be avoiding your possibly disputing the debt Is the debt legitimate, is the amount they are collecting correct, and do they actually have the right to collect it? Not taking payments may imply there is something not quite right about the account, and they want full payment in hand before you think to dispute it. Perhaps it was sent back to the OC, or sold to another CA, or they have added unallowable fees. What was the original debt for? Does the amount they are collecting match what you think is owed on the account? Is it easily determinable from your existing statements? Have you contacted the OC? "Possession is 9/10ths of the law" and if you overpay, your remedies to recover an overpayment are ineffective considering the amount of the difference, and the presumption that if you paid it you must have considered it owed.
Im sorry i am new to all this and sometimes do not add all pertinant info. The debt it only delinquent by 3 months so it is still with the original creditor. Yes i know its mine and they did say i could send them a letter to validate but i didnt think I should since i know its my card i charged it up and i let it go delinquent thinking debt settlement would save me. My total bill is $2300, but its $400 i have to pay to get it up to date and thats why they keep only saying they will only accept $400. I keep telling them i could affort $100 to get the ball rolling but they wont take anything less then the $400.
If it is still with the original creditor, why don't you just pay the original creditor? What are they going to do, send you your check back? They at least have to credit your payments toward the account, as per FCBA, which you can't guarantee the CA will do correctly. Whether you immediately bring it current or not, you are at least paying it down, reducing your outstanding debt, and if you do finally get it paid off, you are in a better position to establish a normal account relationship again. Even with late fees and 29% annual penalty rates, you would probably be making some progress. The CA probably has little interest in you sending small payments, since they probably get little for handling them, and the closer it goes to full charge-off, the more they get for collection.
